Yearly Archives: 2016

23 October 1916; Monday

October 1916, , ,
Brickfields near Albert
Brickfields camp – see footnote 3

Up about 7.30. Helped in the ward a bit. Packed up things and moved off shortly after dinner. I rode with two divisional patients as bus-man in the first car and the others marched. Arrived about 2 kilometres from Albert1. The M.G.C.2 man and I walked to a Y.M. hut but we got nothing to eat so had some tea. Waited by the fire until about 6 o’clock when the rest came up. Slept in a tent† and had a good night.

Brickfields Camp W3

  1. The map shows the start and end points of this journey, Val-de-Maison (A) and the approximate location of the Brickfields camp at Albert (B). Source. ↩

  2. M.G.C.: Machine Gun Corps. ↩

  3. The Brickfields, an old brick factory on the outskirts of Albert, was used as a large billeting area by Allied troops. Its close proximity to Albert and the front line made it an ideal position for soldiers to stay in makeshift shelters for short periods of time. The Photograph – ‘Brickfields near Albert’  – is from Museum Victoria and not from ALL’s archive. ↩

17 October 1916; Tuesday

October 1916, , ,

Left Authie about 9.30. Part of the morning† Harry Bascombe left at the hospital in the village. Had to wait several times for the Division to move and in one place had to put off our pack and push the waggons up a very steep bank. Marched about 9 miles. Arrived at Val de Maison1 about 4 o’clock. I felt pretty rotten and got down as quickly as possible.

Temperature 101.4 at night2.

  1. Val de Maison: presumably the Val de Maison (B) in Michelin map square G7, 3km E. of N25, mid-way between Doullens  and Amiens, 9 miles/14.5km from Authie (A); it would be about 20km march from Val de Maison to the Brickfields camp at Albert on 23 October. ↩

  2. “Temperature”: Presumably ALL’s body temperature. 101.4°F is c. 38.5°C – a moderate fever – the malaise causing this fever is not specified. ↩

Tom Brown at Oxford

tombrownoxfordTom Brown at Oxford is a novel by Thomas Hughes, first published in 1861. It is a sequel to the better-known Tom Brown’s School Days.

Tom Brown’s School Days culminates in Tom’s graduation from Rugby, having become an honourable Christian gentleman who embodies Dr. Arnold’s ideal of “muscular Christianity”. This little known sequel tells of Tom’s university life, until the completion of his M.A. degree and marriage, and his continuing development as a Christian gentleman.

The book was out of print for many years but is now available again in both print and electronic book versions.

Arthur Linfoot wrote that he had read Tom Brown at Oxford on 15th October 1916, while stationed at Authie in Northern France.